J. T. Southern (born January 4, 1964) is an American retired professional wrestler. Though he achieved most notoriety during his 1992 feud with Van Hammer in World Championship Wrestling, Southern also competed for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association, Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Tennessee, and in UWF International in Japan. Professional wrestling career Continental Wrestling Association (1986–1987) Southern debuted in the Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis in 1986. American Wrestling Association (1987) In June 1987, Southern joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) where he received a push early on, forming a tag team with D.J. Peterson. He also teamed with Jimmy Snuka and won the International Tag Team Championship. The title belts were later taken from Southern and awarded to The Mercenaries when Snuka left the territory. After a few appearances with the short-lived Oregon Wrestling Federation, Southern then disappeared from the area as well. Various promotions (1987–1991) He next turned up in Windy City Wrestling appearing for its debut show "Battle of the Belts" in Chicago on January 30, 1988. He wrestled on the undercard with Big Bubba in a tag team match against "Playboy" Buddy Rose and Doug Somers. After spending time working the indy circuits (particularly the Continental Wrestling Association, which later evolved into United States Wrestling Association in Memphis, where he first came to prominence), Southern had a brief appearance as Wolfe Wilde, the drummer of "The Tough Guys" band at Clash of the Champions X where he fought Cactus Jack Manson after Jack lost to Mil Máscaras and confronted the band who were playing during the commercial break. UWF International (1991–1992) In June 1991, Southern traveled to Japan to try his hand at UWF International (a hybrid of wrestling and kickboxing). He made his debut against Nobuhiko Takada but was dismissed by one commentator as "pretty but ineffective" as he lost badly - it was the first time in UWFi history that a fighter had failed to take a single point off his opponent. He went on to lose every one of his fights there against Japanese martial-arts fighters (Kazuo Yamazaki, Tatsuo Nakano and Masahito Kakihara) who ruthlessly exploited his weak defense against their explosive kicks. In a particularly one-sided fight, Southern showed so little fighting spirit that his opponent Kazuo Yamazaki was enraged by what he saw as Southern's cowardice. The commentators noted that, as a result, Yamazaki began treating Southern with contempt